


Victoria Joins the Vape Nation

by LyricOcean



Category: Life Is Strange (Video Game)
Genre: F/F, Fluff, Party, Vaping, Victoria has zero chill
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-01
Updated: 2018-10-01
Packaged: 2019-07-23 05:14:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,206
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16152323
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LyricOcean/pseuds/LyricOcean
Summary: Pretty self explanatory from the title... Victoria buys a vape and has a great old time with all her friends at a party. May or may not be based off the real life experiences of the author.





	Victoria Joins the Vape Nation

Max had never approved of Victoria smoking. It was bad for your lungs, and it made you smell like cigarettes, and it shortened your lifespan, and it was generally very very bad and she should not be doing it.

Victoria knew her girlfriend’s tone of voice intimately when she discussed these matters. Max always started off gently, perched at the end of Victoria’s bed like an exotic species of bird, never sure whether to cross her legs or not, eyes looking everywhere except at Victoria. It wasn’t that she didn’t _like_ it, she’d start, which would soon change into _okay, so maybe I don’t like it_ , and when Victoria inevitably pushed it further, cigarette smoke curling with her taunting smile, Max would finally let it fly: that _Victoria, I actually fucking hate it and I don’t want to kiss you anymore_.

It always ended the same way: with Victoria leaning over and blowing the smoke out the window, then taking Max’s hand. She’d watch the goosebumps prickle up among the mosaic of freckles on Max’s arms, then look into the blue of her eyes, and finally Max would sigh and kiss her and repeat how much she hated it. It was a ritual between them, tested and true. Victoria was half convinced Max secretly enjoyed it, though she’d probably renounce hipsterism before admitting that.

However, she knew Max really did hate her smoking, and she’d been meaning to quit for a while anyway. Victoria prided herself on her logical solutions to problems; she’d always been a critical thinker, as shown by her 3.9 GPA. Smart ideas had a way of just popping into her head like the onset of a migraine.

For her latest great idea she’d been sitting at her desk, watching vines on Youtube as she procrastinated her latest essay, and it had hit her. She’d started to laugh, then, alone in her room, and she’d opened up another tab to an online shop on her computer, and that had been the start of it, really.

Max groaned when she saw it.

“You can’t be serious,” Max said, grave as an undertaker.

“ _T_ _rès sérieux_ _._ ” Victoria removed the vape from its box with theatrical relish, holding it up in front of her like a torch in the darkness. The vape was sleek and black, professional. It seemed to recognise her touch like an old friend, or Max most Saturday mornings. “It was only, like, two hundred bucks or something. How do you turn it on… ah, there it is.”

“Return it to the store."

“It tells the time!” Victoria hummed the tune of one of Max’s hipster songs, the one about hide and seek in waterfalls, as she opened up its chamber and poured some vape juice in. She was always in a good mood when she was annoying Max. It was one of her favourite hobbies. “This is ‘strawberry and banana’,” she told Max, in the same way she’d tell a young child. “The reviews online said this was the best one. You’re going to love it. I love it already.”

Max still hadn’t changed her facial expression. Her brown hair hung drably around her face, the will to live seemingly sucked out of her. “I want to break up.”

“But then you couldn’t use my cool vape.” Everything was in order. Victoria’s fingers snaked next to Max’s on the bed, but Max withdrew her hand and crossed her arms. Talk about role reversal.

Victoria frowned and scooted closer to her girlfriend, draping an arm across her scrawny shoulders, and she kissed her on the side of the head. Max’s head leaned automatically against Victoria, and finally the shorter girl sighed.

“Do you want to go first?” Victoria asked, into her hair. “You’re not using the shampoo I bought you, by the way. I can smell it. That Pantene shit isn’t going to cut it.”

“You’re so weird and hypo today.” Max lifted her head, and Victoria saw that she was finally smiling. She had such a cute smile. And cute blue eyes. And cute hair, even though the bitch wasn’t using the good shampoo. At least she’d gotten her hair cut better since Victoria first met her -- it had made Victoria hungry for muffins every time she saw her, which was definitely not conducive to her figure. Victoria wasn’t even going to _start_ on Max’s clothes, though she was pleased to see she’d helped out in that department too.

Max was definitely a strange one. There were times when Victoria thought maybe they looked out of place together, the popular girl and the nerdy loner, beauty and the yeet. But they were happy together, and they worked out in their own weird way, and that was all that mattered, really.

“You do it first,” Max finally mumbled. Victoria liked to imagine she heard a touch of anticipation.

Victoria raised her eyebrows and the vape. Careful not to mess up her lipstick, even though she’d already got it on Max’s hair, she vaped a fat cloud which swirled and danced around her room, colourless chemical magic. Her room was neat as a general rule, everything expensive and cold and positioned just so. She’d lived here for almost a year and it somehow never felt lived in. Maybe the vape smoke would finally complete it, make it just like any other hole the rest of the animals here lived in. Or maybe not. She felt more at home in Max’s room, anyway.

The nicotine hit her surprisingly fast. She closed her eyes and inhaled again.

“Okay, it’s pretty,” Max admitted somewhere near Victoria’s right ear. “The smoke.” Her opinion was invalid because she still smelled of the shitty vanilla Pantene shampoo, but she was right. “Should I open a window? Will it set off the fire alarm?”

Max seemed to worry about things for fun. Victoria was prepared for this question. “That’s the best part,” Victoria said, opening her eyes. She shot mist at her pictures on the wall, silhouetting her own photographed frame in fog. Say what you would about Victoria, and she knew people did, nobody could deny she had a great body. “They don’t pick the vapour up. Otherwise they’d go off every time Taylor’s skank ass had a shower.”

“You’re not going to vape at the party tonight, are you?”

Victoria was an excellent liar. She’d lied her way through every conversation with her parents, with her teachers, and with most of her peers. However, she felt no obligation to lie this time.

“Yup,” Victoria said.

 

 

* * *

 

 

The room was a wash of colours and music and bodies, sitting and standing, swaying, sweating, ssmaking out. It was slightly awkward considering the ratio of people to the size of Victoria’s room, but it managed. Outside a storm raged its fury over Arcadia Bay, hailstones likely pelting down on the sweet beach spot they were all supposed to be at.

It was whatever, Victoria supposed. Everyone was having fun, and it wasn’t like Wells was gonna come over and bust them. People were drinking, some were smoking out the window, and Chloe, Rachel, and Hayden were on the couch tripping balls. Victoria still vaguely hated Rachel, but she was Chloe’s girlfriend, and Chloe was Max’s best friend, so she had to play nice. Polite smiles and lack of conversation seemed to work well for the two.

An eruption of coughing drew Victoria’s attention back to her immediate surroundings. She was sitting on her bed with Max, Courtney, Taylor, and Nathan. They all somehow managed to fit, though not without some overlapping. Max had finally been persuaded into trying the vape; after a few false starts Max had puffed out a tiny cloud before coughing and spluttering. Victoria looked over at Nathan and mouthed ‘ _pussy_ ’, before her hand found its way to Max’s back.

“Don’t you dare die in my jacket,” Victoria warned, slightly drunk. They were colour coordinated -- Max was wearing one of Victoria’s leather jackets, a red shirt, and black jeans, while Victoria wore a red button down shirt with a tiny black skirt she’d found online. The two also kind of matched Nathan, in his red jacket he always wore. God, Victoria was good.

“Oh my god--” Courtney started, then cut herself off.

“I’m okay,” Max said, before Victoria could rip Courtney’s head off. “You’d better take it.” She handed the vape to Victoria, who, eager to show off, inhaled for a solid few seconds before spitting vapour into the room.

“Fuckin’ vape dragon!” Chloe yelled from the couch, drawing a few intoxicated laughs. Max laughed too, a cute little giggle that rustled her russet brown hair. For a moment Victoria felt a swell of jealousy -- Max hadn’t laughed at Victoria in a small while -- but she crushed the thought as soon as it arose. She wasn’t going to ruin the party with something as insignificant as herself.

“Do you think we could hot box the room?” Victoria blurted. “Vape only, of course.” The thought had only occurred to her as she said it, but the more she talked, the better it sounded. “Close the windows. It’ll be like a sauna.” Already people were getting up to close them, jackets removed to block the crack under the door. They were eager to please, and this wasn’t their first rodeo.

“The world’s edgiest sauna,” Nathan snorted, rubbing his nose with the side of his hand like he was half wild. “Give me that.” He grabbed the vape off Victoria and puffed some of its contents into the air, then handed it into the zoo of the rest of the room: from this point on, it was handed around from person to person, all trying to add to the steam before it dissipated.

“I don’t understand why everyone’s being so judgemental of my vape,” Victoria huffed, checking her makeup quickly on her phone camera. Still perfect. A few strokes of her short blonde hair had slipped from their gelled holding place, and she adjusted them.

She continued: “Not when cigarette smoke damages your lungs and makes you look old and fugly.” Max should have been proud of her for that.

“They’re both not very good for you…” Max muttered, near inaudible. Victoria could tell without looking at her that she was trying very hard not to laugh. _Fuck you too, then._

“Victoria, you literally smoke every day,” Dana piped up. “You were smoking before the party.”

“I’m trying to use my last ones up!” Victoria knocked back a mouthful of vodka from her flask, unaware until after she’d done it of how that looked. The room was fast starting to smell of strawberries and bananas, artificial and smoky and lovely. She’d _known_ it was a good idea. Why was everyone riding her ass?

“You got a guy to buy you more cigarettes at the store today,” Max pointed out. Victoria shot her a look as deadly to houseplants as Max’s negligence was to Lisa. Max was so hot when she was making fun of Victoria, though Victoria was fairly fucking certain she hadn’t asked anyone else for their judgements of her life.

The room seemed to be grinning at her, intoxicated smiles that shone blue and red from the fairy lights on the wall. _Animals,_ she thought.

“I bought those for Taylor,” Victoria replied, every word emphasised and gritted through the porcelain perfect of her teeth.

“Bitch, no you didn’t!” Taylor said. “You never offer me any!”

Max was cracking up at this point, tears streaming down the curves of her cheekbones. Victoria pressed her whole hand against Max’s face to shut the bitch up, but that only made Max laugh harder and bite at her fingers.

“I just came here to have a good time and I’m honestly feeling so attacked right now,” Victoria announced to the room, still wrestling Max. She was half genuinely pissed off, half having a good time. She couldn’t tell. Sometimes her mood was solely reliant on who was asking her. At least Max was laughing at her again. She pushed Max off and stood up, stealing a drink from out of Courtney’s hand and swigging it: cider, the Walmart of alcohol.

Grabbing the vape off Hayden, she filled what felt like the entire capacity of her lung space with strawberry-banana. She closed her eyes and the colours of the party faded to black, her ears unfortunately unable to block out the warbling of Max’s laughter. She spat it at Nathan, also laughing, then furiously spun around, blasting everyone like a dragon destroying a village.

“I’m sick of Blackwell and all your judgements!” She yelled, taking another puff. When she was evaluating the merits of this action while hungover the next day, she concluded that she was definitely a lot drunker than she’d initially calculated. However, as they say, hindsight's 20/20, and Victoria alcohol goggles left her myopic. Plus, what could she say? She liked the attention.

“You’re gonna set the fire alarm off,” Rachel called from the couch. It was the first intelligible thought Victoria had heard from her in a while -- whenever she’d tuned in previously, Rachel babbling like a maniac about flesh or the lack of time’s existence. This really set Victoria off (what did _Rachel_ know? First of all, she was a stupid bitch, and second of all, she was tripping dick).

“For your fucking information, Rachel,” Victoria rounded around to her, “the fire alarm doesn’t register vape smoke. Watch.” She vaped an even fatter cloud than she previously had, her head starting to spin, and she spat it at the fire alarm.

An educational lesson on fire alarms, now. The very basic explanation of how fire alarms function is that they use a small laser aimed at a specific point. Whenever the laser is blocked off or disturbed by anything in the air and the laser fails to keep its beam on said certain point, then the alarm is activated. This is why small amounts of water vapour will often not set off an alarm of regular sensitivity. Use this information as you will.

However, when large amounts of concentrated vapour hit the laser, particularly when said vapour is specifically directed towards the vicinity of the alarm, then it is more likely to set the alarm off. A lesson the reader may learn for free through this story, yet a lesson so many have had to learn the hard way. Victoria, unfortunately, was part of the latter group.

The alarm went off.

The room paused for a moment, everyone collectively frozen in an _oh, shit_ moment. Then Max’s howling penetrated the silence, and soon everyone was laughing, and Victoria’s face was strawberry(banana?) red under her foundation.

“Okay, everyone out,” Nathan announced. “Hide your shit and get out.”

Cans and bottles and ashtrays were shoved under Victoria’s bed -- nobody would dare put them in her wardrobe -- and slowly, people started to stumble out. The fog of the room spilled into the hallway.

Victoria could distinguish many voices complaining among the crowd, and not just those who’d been at the party: Brooke, Alyssa, Justin. What the hell Justin was doing there she supposed she’d never know. Chloe, Rachel, and Hayden were looking very concerned as someone tried to convince them that no, the alarm wasn’t going off because of them, and all they needed to do was come and wait outside for a moment and they’d be all in the clear.

Victoria’s ears hummed with the throb of the alarm’s wailing, seeming to root itself in her skull. She had a headache from stress at the best of times but this was really something else.

She took Max’s hand wordlessly and walked with her out into the hallway, swarming with teenagers. Some drunk asshole bumped into the two and was immediately pushed aside, Victoria all but hissing.

“On a scale of one to buying a vape, how stupid do you feel right now?” Max asked when they were almost outside.

“I’m not accepting criticism from literal hobbits,” Victoria shot back.

“I’d say you’re sleeping in your own bed tonight, but that’s only if the firefighters let us back in. Whose fault is that again?” Max squeezed Victoria’s hand, taking some of the sting off. Max always had really warm hands. Victoria’s were always cold as a corpse, the same as her feet. _Alligator feet_ , Max had called them when they’d first started dating, and Victoria had actually cried. The reptile comparisons had been kept to a minimum after that.

They emerged outside just in time to remember that it was absolutely pelting down, and that they had to stand outside until the fire department came. Victoria screamed as the icy water hit her skin: people were fumbling for jackets to wear over their heads (unavailable, since most of them had taken them off to block the door), trying to crowd under the sparse roofing of the courtyard.

Victoria saw Kate standing by herself in the rain, dressed fully in a yellow raincoat and matching gumboots, watching the rain drip off her hood with dead, unblinking eyes. Zachary stood shirtless with nipples that could cut diamonds. Alyssa had somehow managed to wrestle her way under the protection of the roofing, her Team Edward shirt just visible under her pink dressing gown.

Everyone was shivering from the rain and the wind, pelted by hailstones, cowering under the fury of the obsidian-dark sky. Even the stars looked like they were hiding tonight.

Victoria’s first thought was, _This would make an incredible picture_. Then she thought, _What a fucking mess._ Finally, she thought: _I’m never going to live this down._

Max, it seemed, could decipher Victoria’s thought process like it was written on her forehead. The two of them made no effort to push their way under the shelter: if anyone deserved to get wet right now, it was Victoria. 

“So, Victoria,” Max said, still hanging on to her hand. The rain was dripping in her hair, and down her nose, collecting in her eyebrows. She looked like a wet rat. Victoria guessed she herself looked the same, except she knew her makeup would be running, because that was just what she needed to complete this absolute disaster of a night.

“So, Max,” Victoria said, not trusting herself to say anything else.

Max grabbed her other hand. “You’ve done a stupid thing,” she said, gravely. “A stupid, stupid thing.”

“Yes, Max.”

Max looked around demonstratively, across the soaking, unhappy teenagers. “Nobody’s very happy with you right now, are they, Victoria?”

“I don’t imagine so, Max.”

“Do you think maybe this is a sign we should return the vape to the store, Victoria?”

Victoria looked across the shivering bodies. You could feel the distaste in the air, sour and cutting like ice. All she wanted was to be tucked in bed with Max, safe from the rain, safe from judgement, just utterly relaxed and on the verge of sleep. Somewhere in the distance she heard the wailing of a fire alarm: the Arcadia Bay Fire Department did _not_ fuck around.

“I’ll return the vape tomorrow,” Victoria promised, and kissed Max in the rain.

_God,_ she thought smugly as their lips met. _I’m such a good liar._


End file.
